The interiors of truck trailers must be periodically cleaned. The trailer is typically washed by a person standing inside the trailer who sprays water around the interior and forces waste material out the back of the trailer. The trailer is ordinarily positioned next to a floor drain which receives the water and waste material washed from the back of the trailer. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,106,516, issued Aug. 15, 1978, the truck trailer washing system disclosed shows an ordinary floor drain for collecting the wash water and waste material from the trailer.
One problem with this method of cleaning a truck interior is that a person spraying the truck interior may slip and be injured while washing the trailer. The person doing the cleaning of the trailer may slip and fall from the open trailer. Because of the wash water, the trailer floor surface becomes slippery and dangerous for the person standing in the trailer.
Another problem with this prior art method of cleaning truck trailers is that in order to wash the truck trailer, a floor drain must be available and the truck trailer must be positioned next to the floor drain. However, a floor drain may not be available or positioning the truck trailer at the floor drain may not be convenient. Thus, the inability to selectively reposition the location of the floor drain is a disadvantage in this method of cleaning out the interior of a truck trailer. In addition, the floor drain must be able to handle the solid waste that will be washed from the truck trailer and into the drain. Removal of solid waste that collects in the floor drain is often difficult because of the below surface location of the floor drain. Moreover, environmental and sewage treatment considerations suggest that solid waste disposal of such debris is needed.
Hoppers are sometimes used to hold solid waste material pending its dumping into a waste hauling vehicle or the like. However, these hoppers are not convenient for the collection and dumping of the solid waste materials washed from the interior of truck trailers and otherwise. The hoppers used in the past for holding solid waste material could not be conveniently transported and then adjusted between a loading position and a dumping position.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an inexpensive truck washing apparatus to permit rapid, safe trailer cleaning, with collection of washed-out debris for easy, environmentally safe disposal.